Heaven and Hell
by Baby Morrison
Summary: Gabriel was expelled from heaven in the past, supposedly for dictating the Qur'an to Arabic scribes, but could there be another reason? (Yes, I have stooped so low as to SLASH the Bible.)
1. A Serpent's Kiss

Heaven and Hell

Prologue: A Serpent's Kiss

There he was, nose in a book, as always. His white-blond hair was down around his eyes, only kept out of them by a pair of thin, wire-framed glasses. The dark-haired man approached him quietly, setting his shopping bags down on the food-court table. Gabriel still didn't notice him. He smiled and began rubbing the smaller man's back.

"Lucy..." the blond breathed.

"Don't call me that." the brunet said with a smirk, continuing to massage his friend's tight shoulders.

Gabriel groaned. His job had gotten increasingly stressful as of late, as the company was preparing for a very large and complicated event. He was running on very little rest. When the Boss noticed, he told him to either take a vacation or be forced onto a more permanent leave.

"Funny coincidence," the brunet went on, "meeting you in a mall, of all places."

"Not very, Lucy. You come to Earth to stalk angels all the time, don't you? Michael was just telling me about how you begged him all the way to the edge of Creation to ask for a repeal..."

Lucy abruptly stopped rubbing Gabriel's shoulders and sat down across from him, parting the heavy, gift laden bags and glaring at the angel, "Gabe, what am I supposed to do?" Lucy asked seriously, "The Man gave you pardon without a second thought! Why shouldn't I strive for equality?"

"Lucy, you tried to overthrow the company," Gabriel reminded him, "I was promoting it."

"My intentions were good," Lucy muttered, shoving a handful of chocolate into his mouth.

"Oh, Lucy! Please!" Gabriel pleaded, "don't go into that story. You made a mistake and you were punished for it. You live quite a comfortable life now, don't you?"

"Yes. Fire and brimstone. Damnation. Lovely."

"Oh, stop it."

Suddenly, the space was filled with a polyphonic version "Holy, Holy, Holy". Gabriel reached into his pocket for his ringing cell phone.

"Yes...? Raphael? Yes, I know...Yes...Tell him I'm here. Yes, I've already met with him. Yes...No, not yet, but I think he'll ask. I'll be back as soon as we're done...Thanks, Raphael, you're a doll...Yes...Goodbye."

"Ooh...Raphael." Lucy smirked, but his eyes were blazing, "What did he want, Gabe?"

"Why so jealous, Lucy?" Gabriel questioned, eyebrows raised, as he tucked his cell phone back into his pocket.

"I'm not jealous, I just hate that son of a bitch."

"He's never done anything to you."

"He's an _angel_."

"_I'm_ an angel, Lucy."

Lucy leaned forward, his eyes even more fiery than before, "You're different, Gabe. You know that. You're so much different than any of the others."

Before Gabriel could respond, Lucifer kissed him.

_A/N - Thanks to those who reviewed. BTW, "brunet" is the correct form when refering to a man, just as is "blond"...if you don't believe me, look it up! ;)_


	2. The Crucifix

Heaven and Hell

Chapter One: The Crucifix

Gabriel stood quietly and walked out without a word, forgetting his shopping bags and his book, made his way through the crowded parking lot to his tiny blue automobile, climbed in and sat back in his seat, his hand clasped over his mouth. He pulled down the visor mirror and stared blankly at his lips as if he expected them to be charred and burnt where Lucifer's had touched them. He took a breath, flipped the visor back up, and turned the key in the ignition.

---

"Bless me father, for I have sinned." The boy was very small, only about eleven or twelve. But surely he was old enough to know that there would be no one to confess to this early in the morning? "Father?"

"I don't think there's anyone here, young man," Lucifer said softly.

A tiny head of brown curls peered out from the confessional, "Who are you?"

"I am an angel," Lucy said, sitting down on a pew and beckoning the boy to come sit next to him, "You can confess to me."

The boy threw a look at the confessional, as if he wondered why the "angel" did not lead him there, but did not say anything about it, "I have committed an unforgivable sin of the flesh," the boy said, his eyes lowered as he spoke in a voice that sounded almost recited.

"Go on,"

Suddenly the boy dropped his rehearsed tone and burst into tears, grabbing Lucifer's hand and wringing it desperately, "I let him touch me! He said I'm - I'm a slut and he - hurt me...be - because he said I should - shouldn't..." the rest of the confession was lost in the boy's sobs as he threw himself into Lucifer's arms. As the boy's body came into contact with his own, Lucifer saw a vivid splash of blurred colours, out of which shapes and outlines emerged, the blurred and contorted figures of the human memory. There was another boy, a blond with brilliant blue eyes. He was older, perhaps thirteen. With a bright and mischievous smile, the older showed the younger how to alleviate the "problems" that arise from looking at pretty girls. The memory was even more blurry from that point until a large, moustached man burst into the room. A muffled voice thickly laced with a southern accent filled Lucifer's head. There was a slurred, inaudible exchange between the younger boy and the man, the boy's voice ringing frightenedly from deeper inside Lucifer's mind that the other voice. The picture blurred even more and morphed into what must have been some time later. That gravelly southern voice was shouting out scripture. The words triggered a dull ache at the base of Lucifer's brain, the sting of pain that still resulted from hearing scripture spoken with real meaning. The man must have been a priest. The boy was bent over the foot of his bed, pinned down by the weight of the man who Lucifer assumed must have been a stepfather. There was a vague memory of threatening words and a sharp pain that spread from the young boy's rectum out through his entire abdomen, and the sting of his stepfather's nails in the soft flesh of his forearms and then, nothing. A black out. Lucifer held the sobbing boy and then whispered to him, "You should obey your parents, but he is not your parent. He has violated you. The Lord will avenge your grief. Come with me."

Through his tears the boy asked, "I shouldn't say any 'Hail Mary's?"

"No," Lucifer grinned, lifting the boy into his arms, "Just tell me where your stepfather is."

**_Man Crucified in Southern Baptist Church_**

**_This morning at approximately 7:06 AM, a local Baptist minister was found nailed up to the cross at the entrance to his church. Police officials say that the 42-year-old clergyman had been severely whipped and his head had been circled with barbed wire before being nailed to the 10 foot cross with a nail gun. Five-inch carpentry nails were arranged in groups of five on each of his palms and three rows of six through his feet. Police have not yet identified a suspect, but police department representative Marvin Johnson has said, "We're doing all we can to track down this killer. We've conducted raids on every known cult and otherwise suspicious underground facility and we're collecting information on what other groups with motives for murder might exist."_**

Gabriel threw down the paper onto the hotel bed in disgust, storming into the bathroom to change into a pair of blue flannel pajamas.

"I'm going to kill him!" the angel mumbled, "I don't know if it's possible, but if it is, I swear I will do it!"

"Thou shalt not kill. Unless, of course, that murder is in the name of the Good Lord above."

Gabriel whirled around to see Lucifer leaning against the doorframe, idly staring at the Angel's half dressed form.

"Lucy!" Gabriel breathed through clenched teeth, "You idiot! What did you think you were doing! Did it occur to you that we could have handled that man!"

"I'm Redeeming myself. Punishing a sinner masquerading as a servant of the Lord. After all, that is an Angel's work. Besides, I got there first."

"You are not an Angel, Lucifer. You've proven that much over the last couple of millennia!"

"I'm ready to repent, to come back to the light of God!"

"I doubt that," Gabriel muttered, buttoning up his pajama top and strutting huffily over to the queen-sized bed. Lucifer followed him, sitting down next to the angel.

"Gabriel, you know I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have a genuine reason. I never do _anything_ without a reason."

"And your reason is...?"

Lucifer made an exasperated sound, standing suddenly, his fists balled at his sides. He was silent for a moment.

"Lucy?"

"You," he said through gritted teeth.

"Lucy, I --"

"_Don't...call me that_," he whispered tensely.

"_Lucifer_," Gabriel continued, "I thought we had put our past behind us. It was so long ago!"

Lucifer whirled around, the light in his eyes filling the room, "Maybe you were able to put it behind you! Maybe you could just go back to Father, repent, and forget it, but I couldn't! I had centuries to think about you! I had centuries to wonder what it would have been like if you could have just put Him behind you, if you hadn't been such a coward! You! You just forgot all about it once you were back in His pretty little kingdom!"

Gabriel was taken aback. He stared at Lucifer for several minutes before responding carefully, "Lucifer, it's not that simple. I didn't forget. I just...I know it won't work and I'm not letting it bother me. I'm sorry if you're hurt, but I can't account for that. It wasn't my decision that broke us apart and you know it."

Lucifer left the room, and the mortal body he had assumed began to sob.


	3. The Fall

Heaven and Hell

Chapter Two: The Fall

Gabriel was lying across the bed in the hotel room. His pajamas lay in a pile to the side. His eyes were open. He was perfectly still. He focused on his body, feeling a bright heat swell in his chest. Slowly, he pushed it upwards, breaking the nerves and tendons that contained it, penetrating the shell of his body. As it burst free, it ascended with impossible speed, through the atmosphere and beyond the ever-expanding walls of Creation. He took his heavenly form and looked around. His vision was decidedly better.

"Back early, Gabriel?" Michael was standing beside him, his wings curled around his beautiful – but nonetheless genderless -- form.

"Lucifer was harassing me again."

"Raphael told me. It happens to all of us. I hear he's been bothering even some of the lesser angels."

"Well, it's a bit more complex than that," Gabriel huffed, "Come with me and I'll tell you."

Michael began to protest "But –"

"No. Not here. Father will already have heard something."

They crossed the thin membrane between Heaven and Creation, still close enough to retain angelic form.

"His ears are less sharp out here in all this…" Gabriel gesticulated in the general direction of the centre of the universe, indicating the countless billions of energy exchanges, rotations, mutations, explosions and chemical processes occurring every second, "but I still don't quite feel comfortable discussing –"

"Just say it, Gabriel. After all, if you've done nothing wrong, why should Father mind? You…haven't…?"

"No…I've done nothing. But Lucifer's been active lately."

Michael laughed, "Lucifer has always been and will always be active. That's nothing new."

"He killed a man himself. A false priest."

Michael looked troubled. He said nothing for a long while.

"That's…not all," Gabriel admitted. "He wants me to join him…to be with him again. He's still jealous that I chose Father over him."

"Lucifer has always been jealous of Father." Michael said slowly.

"Michael, things do not always say the same. You speak as if nothing in Heaven or Creation has ever changed. We are on the verge of a major shift, and even we do not know exactly what Father has planned. What if Lucifer really has repented? What if…What if he comes back?"

Michael's brows knit together and he bit his lower lip. "If…Father welcomes Lucifer back…then…we must welcome him as well. As a brother."

"Michael! Perhaps you really don't understand, but I have felt desire! I have felt temptation as _none_ of us were ever meant to! It is difficult to resist Lucifer when I see him in human form, his angelic properties subdued, his light contained and suppressed, when I can simply tell myself that he is evil, that he has denied Father's power, that he is something to be avoided. But to see him as he was before – here -- all his beauty restored…to know that he has been forgiven and to endure countless millennia seeing his light, and yearning for it, and resisting…all the while having no idea why I cannot simply yield as I once did and be with Him and be happy…It would destroy me."

"He is already destroying you," Michael said softly. "You deified him."

"I did not," Gabriel scoffed.

"You did."

"When?"

"Now. You said Him…you were not referring to Father."

"Don't be silly Michael. I did nothing of the sort."

Michael wore a distinct look of betrayal. "Have you already fallen so far? You're lying. And you deified Lucifer. You…lust after him."

"Michael, you're being ridiculous. You were mistaken. I spoke passionately because I love Father, and I am afraid of betraying him as I surely will if I allow Lucifer to tempt me further. He has grown powerful since he fell. He has learned to tempt beings such as you and me. How much longer before he can fool Father?"

"I hope that such a time never comes, but your very words prove to me that one cast out is never fully healed. One who turns from Father once will turn again. Go back to Earth, Gabriel. Go to Hell if that is your wish, but you are no longer welcome in Heaven."

"You do not have the authority to deny me access to Heaven."

"But Father does…and if you had any of His Light left in you, you would know that he heard every word you just said to me, and you would know that he has closed the Gates to you."

Gabriel pushed past Michael, storming towards the membrane. Within seconds he found himself facing the center of the universe.

"I am sorry, Gabriel," Michael whispered, his voice choked with emotion, "I wish I could help you."

With that, Michael took a step backwards, and disappeared through the membrane. Gabriel could no longer see it.

"Now," a low voice said from behind Gabriel, "Now you just try to tell me how _fair_ and _just_ and _good_ our father is. Tell me that _that_ was justified."

Gabriel flung himself into Lucifer's arms, sobbing against his chest. He felt the familiar featherless wings wrapping protectively around him.

"It wasn't fair…" he cried, "It wasn't fair because I've done nothing wrong. I haven't fallen! I love father! I love his work! I want to do his work!"

"Do you love me?"

Gabriel looked up into Lucifer's eyes.

"I…I do love You."

_A/N - Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. I apologize for the long, LONG, wait between chapters, but school and my family ate my soul for a little while. But I'm back again, and you can expect me to be corrupting the minds of innocent men, women, and children for the rest of eternity. Please keep reading and reviewing, as your support and criticism is all that keeps my hands on this keyboard. Those of you who also write on here know how just the sight of that review-alert message can inspire new chapters.  
_


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